Action Trumps Everything! by Steve Mattis

     The problem with dreamers and visionaries is that we often are not very practical.  Sometimes we spend lots of time thinking through problems, looking at possibilities and running solutions over and over again in our mind, sometimes with little or no results.  That is why leaders, dreamers and visionaries can sometimes drive managerial types banana's.  Thoughts are only as good as the actions and movements that grow out of them.
     Now that may seem pretty obvious to many of you, but I suggest that most of us have been carefully trained in a method of thinking and analyzing that has led us to become great thinkers but not always as productive as we might have been, given the development of an alternative method.  The method that is familiar to most of us is the scientific method.  You know, you analyze and evaluate past realities and attempt to predict the future based upon your observations and assumptions about the past.  This method of prediction is important, however, when you find yourself in an unstable environment, with an uncertain future the past is rendered quite unless and its time to consider another method.
     You might be saying to yourself, "oh, great! It took me all my life to learn to think clearly and analytically, now I have to learn another method!"  Well, its not really all that foreign.  In fact, its the method that we first learned as toddlers.  Thats pretty cool.  How do toddlers learn?  Well they ACT, then they LEARN, then they REPEAT with better information.  For example, a toddler puts his hand on a hot stove, LEARNS that the stove is hot and says, "well that didn't work, see if I do that again."  This is an incredibly high level of learning.  But, we have been taught not to think this way because it wasn't advanced enough; wasn't scientific enough.
     This is the type of learning referred to as "Creation Thinking."  Actions lead to better evaluations and to better actions in the future.  So we don't have to "predict" the future scientifically, we just need to create it by acting.  All this grows out of the most advanced research from the Harvard business school and other high level academic institutions.  It turns out that "Creation Reasoning" is what sets entrepreneurial thought apart from Corporate maintenance thought.  Entrepreneurial people create new things, new organizations and new businesses.  And it turns out that they do so because them think and therefore act differently then most of us.  It seems that these unique people actually use both "Predictive Thinking" and "Creation Thinking" to propel them forward in their thinking and their acting.
     Instead of thinking your way into a new way of acting, which is at the heart of using Prediction, you need to act your way into a new way of thinking.  That is what entrepreneurs do when faced with the unknowable - and it is an approach that will work for you as well.
     Now if all of this has pricked your interest...I suggest a wonderful book that will help you get ahold of this amazing new method of reasoning.  I have been using this method and have seen amazing results in a very short time.  I have accomplished more in a week than I have in a month of Sundays by using the Predictive method along.  The book: Action Trumps Everything: Creating what you want in an uncertain world.  By Charles F. Kiefer and Leonard A. Schlesinger.
     After all isn't God a creative God not just a maintenance God!  Remember, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  This wasn't just thought; it was action!

     Let our Dreams and Visions become reality as we act, learn and repeat our way into the future!

Steve Mattis

Learning to Rest

     Well my best intentions to "blog" at least weekly has proven to be unrealistic.  Life has a way of getting and staying pretty busy.  Pressures seem to abound.  Challenges and circumstances also seem to back log as we walk through this life.  Ever wonder when it will all end?  When will life quiet down a bit?  Well, I have asked those same questions.  What I have come up with was pretty obvious to many.  Life will stay as full as I allow it to become.  We scurry about almost frantic about nothing that really matters in the larger scheme of things.
     A friend related last night that she stopped using Face Book.  That may be unthinkable for many people.  However, it became a stumbling block for her.  She was spending time worrying and comparing herself to others.  Seems we always compare our weaknesses to other peoples strengths anyway. So she unplugged and cancelled her account. The end of virtual relationships! End of problem!
   
Jesus put it this way:
     "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke                    upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your    souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Matt 11:28-30
   
     I think rest is something we must choose.  Quietness is something we must pursue at all costs.
Maybe we should take some time just to breathe.  Contemplate the obvious or the not so obvious.  The only "yoke" we really need to shoulder is the yoke of Jesus.  And He says his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

          Take some time to unplug from the daily pressures of life.
          Consider all that we spend our time doing and be intentional about making choices.
          Take time for yourself.  Think.  Feel.  Enjoy the people around you.  They may not be there for ever.

Finally, keep Jesus in the mix of your life.  He is the only one who will really matter in the long run.
He is the one who keeps our relationships sweet and real.  Enjoy your weekend.  He is enjoying it with you.